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Friday, April 25, 2014

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I wanted to update the nursery. My primary focus was adding in chic décor and delicate details to transform it into a sweet and elegant nursery. The nursery is my favorite room in the house with it's cathedral ceiling and stained glass windows. The girls and I spend a lot of time in there reading, playing, or just laying on our backs, staring at the light beaming through the windows and daydreaming.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of pink and elegant details. I didn't turn to magazines, books, or other nurseries for inspiration. Instead I gained inspiration from gorgeous décor I came across on One Kings Lane and from various small shops. One Kings Lane is a destination where one can shop, get inspired with their home decor handbook, and find your favorite home and lifestyle brands. You can tell they put a lot of thought into handpicking only the finest items for your home and I just love the scenes they set up to display some of their wares.

Let's get onto the pictures!

I truly love the way the room came out and along the way I made some new friends, got to spend some time with my older brother who painted the wall (post here), and discovered that I wanted to move FHJ Baby nursery décor up ahead in production. The gorgeous sequin script pillow and wooden love sign will be a couple of the items available soon along with other decorative pillows, décor, and changing pad covers to start out with.

The bow window valance, faux fur rug, gold heart picture, wood love script and sequin script pillow were designed or made by me and it was also fun getting to know a few other shops that helped contribute into turning it into my dream nursery.

Here are the shops I worked with that provided some of the key elements that transformed the room:

There are so many other big retailers such as Target, Hancocks, Walmart, and Babies R us that I bought items for and I plan on doing another post sourcing everything and giving the breakdown on how I was able to bring this room together on a budget.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Not too long ago, I got to know Liliya on iInstgram who owns Isabella Couture. We are actually hosting a giveaway together this week on instagram, but last week she kindly sent me a few pairs of leggings for my sweet Mariam. Yesterday was a beautiful albeit chilly day to wear her red floral dress with a pair of lace leggings from Isabella Couture. They are really adorable and Mariam didn't try to take them off so win-win! Isabella Couture offers custom made flower girl dresses, accessories and much more.

Monday, April 14, 2014

No I'm not pregnant. I know that's what people's minds go to immediately when a young mother of a few littles already says "big news". Haha! This has to do with the business.

I announced last week that my business is expanding it's product line and I'm excited to announce my own line of nursery décor will be making it's debut on the website in 3 weeks! This may come as a surprise as I mentioned earlier this year on my social media that children's wear was next in line in the product expansion, but after months of working on updating my youngest one's nursery, I was so inspired I've decided to bring nursery décor next up in production. I'm so excited! There will be items for both girls and boys and sneak peaks will be coming soon on the business social media pages and website.

I am a little nervous and immediately after I made the announcement I felt my stomach in knots. Oh and I finally filed to become an LLC as well. It's almost like there's no turning back now. Not that I would want to, but still. Sometimes I feel like I'm a crazy nut for putting so much on my plate. Scratch that I am a crazy nut. I'm in a middle of another wholesale order (my biggest yet) going to Alaska and here I'm already planning and putting more on my plate. The good news is I've got an excellent seamstress right now, support from my mother and husband and I've met some people that can possibly help me with my upcoming endeavors. That's not to say I feel much weight lifted off my shoulders. Things still get stressful, I still question what I'm doing and while the kids still get my undivided attention during the day, I've not been able to have time to plan for much else. Which means, I've now got two weeks to plan Layla's 3rd birthday. I wish we could clone ourselves for a few days sometimes when we need to.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Last week I took Layla and Mariam to Ikea during the day to look around and it actually went really well. I was even able to let Mariam out of the Babyhawk and Layla out of her stroller and they behaved like civilized human beings. Even lunch there went without a hitch! While I was there, I spotted a clothes stand in the children's section. They only had the display and weren't going to have anymore in stock till this week, so I decided to take my chance again and made another trip there yesterday with Layla and Mariam. I was able to get the stand, but sweet mother of God did the girls give me a hard time! Halfway through the store I practically had to carry Layla out of the store and through the parking lot screeching and even Mariam gave me a hard time. I swear by the time I got behind the steering wheel my heart was pounding from the adrenaline of being so worked up.

That is the last time I'm taking them on my own. Just so we're clear.

Oi Vey, anyways let's talk about this ridiculously cute and cheap clothes stand. For only $14.99 it's absolutely fabulous for hanging your favorite dress, a children's tutu, or any outfit really. I specifically bought it for the nursery, but now I want one for my room. I know Serena is going to want one too. This my friends is where having girls....and being a girl can get expensive.

The stand comes with instructions and it's so easy and adjustable. I believe the tallest it gets is around 4.8" tall.

Monday, April 7, 2014

A few months ago I decided that I wanted to update the nursery a little and add in some more décor. I came across the Royal Design Studio's website and fell in love with their stencils. I knew right then and there I had to have a stenciled wall of my own. They were kind enough to send me a stencil for review and even in the early stages when only a portion was done, I had already fallen in love with the wall.

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Sure enough when all was said and done, the wall really propelled the room into becoming the nursery of my dreams. The stencil I chose was the acanthus trellis wall stencil in the large size. It comes with easy instructions and if you are working with an all over design like mine, it has indications on the stencil itself on where to match up the next one once you start. The walls in my house are slightly textured, so if you are working with a textured wall it's best to us a flat matte paint instead of semi-gloss. I bought America's best paint from Home Depot and it was only $11.99. I bought the gallon but I really only needed about a quart. I also bought a pair of stenciled brushes and a short foam nap roller. I had everything set up and ready to go but it was just going to be impossible to keep the little ones out of the room and too late to do it at night by the time my husband got home. Instead I had my older brother come in and do it for me and he did an amazing job! I watched him do some of it and that first stencil is a little nerve wrecking, but once you get that one done the rest are pretty easy.

I am absolutely in love with the way it came out. It's stunning and I can't stop looking at it and now I'm like "let's stencil everything!" Ha. Yeah right. As much as I'd like to, my husband would not be too happy. I definitely see myself stenciling a piece of furniture in the near future and if we move I'll be using this same design in one of the girl's rooms. Stay tuned later this week or early next week when I do the final reveal of the room in it's entirety

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

From time to time my oldest Serena likes to paint her nails and then my toddler sees and wants her nails painted as well. I'm usually reluctant, but I recently discovered Ella+Mila nail polish and now I can feel more at ease when the little ones want to paint their nails. Their polishes are 100% vegan, never tested on innocent animals, and most importantly "5-Free". That means they do not contain: Formaldehyde, Toluene, DiButyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde Resin, or Camphor. The company has their polishes made in the USA and a women owned business!

I actually discovered them on Instagram and the timing was perfect because a few days earlier I had shot down Serena's request to paint her nails with one of my polishes. I started thinking I wanted to buy a safer polish for her and that's when I found ella+mila. The checkout process was easy, shipping was fast and most importantly the girls and I love the colors. I also like how you really only need to apply one coat! I definitely see myself ordering from them again.

Welcome

Hi! I’m Francis. Wife and mother to four beautiful girls. Aside from being a stay at home mom, I’m also the founder and designer of FHJ Baby. I guess you can say my plate is full, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!